This is a fantastic upgrade from your standard blinky light and communicates with your garmin head unit. You can hear the rear beep alert and see the number of cars on your garmin head unit. It adds another degree of confidence when on rural roads when one can be lulled into pacificity and the alert is a nice reminder that even remote roads have traffic, often faster than urban and with little shoulder the increased blink cadence of this unit as traffic gets closer is another enhancement for your safety. Wise insurance.
Worth every penny. In hind sight If I bought it again I would purchase the new version 515, which is BlueTooth. I am a MTBiker but love riding the Colorado mountain roads, but hate the cars!! I finally feel safe on the road and really enjoy my road rides now that I have the radar. Knowing way in advance when a vehicle is approaching so I am positioned safely and mentally ready. I like to ride with my friends side by side and now we can safely do that. The red light really warms the motorist especially when it starts flashing. I have had motorist stop to tell me how well they could see me and how great the light is. I wish I had the money to buy this for everyone. It�s so important to stay safe out there.
This is now the equivalent of wallet, keys, phone if I'm on my bike. I can't imagine cycling on the road without it now. It's responsive and accurate and gives me a feeling of security in knowing if/when cars are coming. I prefer to ride in the middle of the road since I live in a rural area, and this picks up cars from far enough away that I have time to prepare accordingly.
I had the previous generation of this product and loved it. This one is even better. It's eye-catching and informative - even a bit too sensitive sometimes, identifying vehicles moving on a road parallel to me and a block to the side. No matter - better safe than sorry. I do not like the "rubber band" mount, but it has been secure even on some pretty rough terrain. It works great with the Stages Dash head units, too, giving you the option of showing on the right or left side of your screen. I like to choose the traffic side.
I used to write off the Varia as gimmicky and unnecessary until I synced with a friend during a ride together. After the very next ride without the radar warning me of approaching traffic on my usual rural backroads, I immediately went home and ordered my own Varia. This thing is must have for any cyclist riding solo or in a group, on any road and traffic situation. The warning comes in plenty of time to prepare myself, and I really like that I can glance down at my Garmin 520+ and see how many vehicles are approaching via the number of dots on the side of the screen. The Varia also eliminates that "surprise" pass where you never hear the vehicle until it is already beside you. Great for windy days that drown out approaching traffic noise.
This Varia is a great light and performs as advertised. I value the heads-up warning that vehicles are approaching and love that my Wahoo computer provides an audible warning and the position of multiple cars coming up behind me. My friends without the Varia have keyed into its features and adjust their riding awareness as they hear the beeps and notice changing flashing patterns when cars approach; especially during fast descents or in strong winds which limit our ability to hear.
Thought it was a gimmick but a friend told me it was a valuable safety feature. After using it for a few months I never want to ride on the road without it. Also find it to be useful in Central Park with all of those electric bikes and scooters sneaking up on me.
I won�t lie, there are false positives, but this is still a great tool for helping keep you safe. It�s most impressive moment, was insisting that there was a vehicle behind me, I heard nothing so didn�t believe, but checked before making a left turn. There was a Prius seemingly just back of my left shoulder in stealth mode. (I�ll give the driver credit, he was allowing me space to turn.) The false positives occur mainly in traffic, this device works great on open roads. The additional safety, far outweighs the false positives.
I can't say that this is a terrible product. It has a bright light and it does the things when it stays connected that it is supposed to do, that is, indicating when cars are coming up and how many. The problem I have is that the battery doesn't seem to last very long and I have had some difficulty getting the device to stay on the mount. I had to secure it with a Velcro strip so that I could feel more safe than it wasn't going to bounce off. I actually put it on one of the Garmin mounts that I would normally use for my Garmin cyclometer because it did not stay on the other mount that came with it. But even at that it tends to flip. I use it on a trike and cannot mount it up and down and maybe that is part of the problem. It does work when it's lying on its side.
I think for me another bright light would have been just as good or putting the money toward a tail light with a camera. I still have to monitor how close cars are to my side. As I said, not a terrible device, but for me I do not feel I got my money's worth out of it. Of course, I have it and so will leave it in the bike.
I love this thing! It�s boosted my confidence on rides alone and in groups. I really like knowing when a car is behind me with plenty of warning time. I especially love how it goes crazy if a car isn�t slowing down to warm you to look out or go off the road, god forbid.
I have had a couple false positives w o there bikers, the signal reflecting off certain materials, and the audio alert will not keep going if multiple cars are in succession behind you (good and bad I guess).
Battery life is great late 3 50 mile + rides before a charge and was pretty idiot proofed to pair w my wahoo bolt.
I bought two, one for myself and one for my wife. We both really like having them, but it's no substitute for keeping your eyes and ears open. After you receive it be sure to check for any software updates and read the instructions carefully. They do work really well and alert us to approaching vehicles well before we hear them coming. We gravel road ride and if you ride gravel you know that you spend most of your time riding the hard packed center, getting an early alert means we can move over to the shoulder earlier (which means less aggravation for drivers). One complaint I have is that if you don't have much seat post extending from the seat tube (or you have a large/low saddle mounted toolkit) it may be difficult to mount it to your bike. If you mount it too low you will have problems due to interference from the rear tire.
I was a little skeptical, even after looking at u-tube videos. But wow, I'm very impressed with the technology. I bought it because I ride solo more than 50% of my miles (5000 - 6000 per yr), but it works equally as well with a group.
I use it with a Garmin edge 830. Love how it interfaces and shows me the approaching vehicles on my 830 head unit. Shows multiple vehicles. I have found it very reliable. Rarely do I get a false reading from another bike (only if our differential speed is significant). Definitely makes me a safer rider. Only wish - louder or adjustable audio alarm.
This is one of those products you think you dont need until you have one. Then you wonder how you rode for years without one. I ride in a fairly rural area, and usually am alone, especially ow given the ongoing pandemic. The Varia alerts me to cars approaching from behind before I can hear them, and is effective even on curvy roads. Its really helpful on longer descents when you cant hear much besides wind noise. I dont think Id use a Varia in an urban setting where there always are cars behind you. But its is really helpful in the country and in suburbia.
The Garmin Varia Radar 2 Rear Light is probably the best investment I have made on my bike. It isn't as flashy as my carbon wheels but hands down this light is awesome. Paired with my Garmin 1030 gps computer, I can ride on the back roads of my town knowing that a car will not sneak up on me and I can ride a little further off the shoulder. On my head unit I see how far a car is back (and it lets you know way in advance) and you can see multiple cars closing in on you.
You can also easily detach the unit from the dock to charge it. It lasts a decent amount of time, but I do wish my 1030 would let me know the battery life of the light. It will let you know when it is low (if you just started your ride that is useless) and the light will last a while longer so that is good.
I really can't say anything negative about the light. I got it on sale but even at full-price this light is well worth the investment. The only thing is you either need a Garmin computer or you have to buy the head unit that shows you where the cars are. I think that is $100, so you are better off just buying a Garmin 130 for a few bucks more.
Received the Varia RTL510 today. Great service! Connected it to my Garmin 1030, which was easy and straight-forward. Took it for a ride over a mixture of roads and bike path. The Varia correctly identified cars from considerable distance, and tracked multiple vehicles as they approached. I was never surprised by one. On the trail it functioned perfectly as a tail light. it never gave a false positive for other riders or runners. You don't think you need this, but you do, and you will love it.
Ive been riding for years and cant believe I never knew about or bought the radar until now! Most of my rides are solo so having an extra piece of mind of where cars are at during my ride is awesome. When paired with the right head unit, it beeps when it deducts a car and shows you a visible alert on how far back the cars.
LOVE, LOVE, LOVE my radar!!!
Got a great deal on this a couple months back and now i dont know how i road ride without it. It shouldn't be used in place of head-checking but its still great. Lets you know right when the cars are coming and how close they are to you. I feel so much safer on country roads now that I have this tool. Every cyclist should have one!
This device took just a few moments to pair with my Garmin. I ride on suburbanrural roads and this picks up any vehicle closing in on me - sometimes trailing cyclists. Between this and my drop mounted mirror I am never surprised. Would be nice if it made some noise to alert me when it picks something up since I need to look at the road, not the Garmin. Also - the mount would be nice to have an option to clip onto the back of a saddle bag since it is a bit hidden on the seat post. The light blinking feature is great for following cyclists who see it and know a vehicle is approaching. All in all, well worth the money as an additional safety feature that does what it says it will
At the beginning I was concerned with the battery performance but after using the radar in the blinking mode all my concerns went away. I have used this product on a 7 hour rides and it has worked great. You just need to be sure to use it in the blinking mode if not the battery last around 4 hours.
On my rides the Garmin radar light gives an extra sense of safety. I love having time to prepare for a car passing you. I also like being able to see in my 1030 if it safe to move off the right side of the road if conditions warrant it and to do it safely without turning your head and looking back. Both me and my girlfriend are using it at all times and we both love it as do quite a few of my cycling friends. This product is a life saver!
